Terror Suspects on Run Are Dangerous, Says Reid

Terror Suspects on Run Are Dangerous, Says Reid

Article excerpt

JOHN REID today warned that three terror suspects on the run from government control orders are dangerous

and called for a national consensus on new anti-terror laws.

The Home Secretary told MPs that MI5 believed the men were not a direct threat to the public

though one has been accused in court of wanting to bomb a nightclub. But Mr Reid added: I am not at all complacent about the risk that these individuals pose. They are dangerous and we can take nothing for granted.Met Commissioner Sir Ian Blair agreed there was no guarantee the three did not pose a threat.

Nobody can be perfectly satisfied that they are not a risk to the public here, Sir Ian said, although he added that intelligence was currently pointing in another direction.

The joint warning came as a fierce row broke out over the disappearance this week of the men, identified as terrorist suspects. One, Algerian-born Lamine Adam, was named during the terror trial of brother Anthony Garcia as being involved in the al Qaedalinked plot to attack the Bluewater shopping centre and nightclubs.

There is also said to be solid intelligence that former Tube driver Adam, 20, and fellow fugitives

One source said security services had been very keen to ensure Adam did not continue to work on the Tube in the light of intelligence on him obtained during the Bluewater trial.

The Tories and the Lib-Dems said the mens disappearance was further evidence of the failure of control orders, from which three other terror suspects have already absconded, and called for an overhaul of anti-terror laws. Shadow home secretary David Davis said: John Reids primary responsibility is the protection of the public. This consistent yet gravely dangerous failure to carry out that duty continues to threaten the safety of the public.Mr Reid insisted the control orders

not even a second-best option

had only been introduced because human rights legal rulings had prevented tougher curbs. …